Canadian Nationals Day 2: Silly GPS Mistake
Today's task was 57 k's - fly from launch to Donald Station, to Moberly Peak and then land at Chris Muller's old place.
I launched at about the middle of the pack and found some climbs right away. It seemed to be inverted or something around 2500 meters and the winds were pushing in from the south. I was in a climb dribbling around the antennas when the start window opened. I was a bit confused at first why my GPS showed me to go back to launch, but by the time I was half way across the valley, only then did I realize that I must have flown outside the launch cylinder, thereby not tagging it. With the south winds being the way they were and not being very high to begin with, I decided that I didn't care that much about the task, and decided to free fly instead.
I flew out to Moberly Peak, but I flew in front of it, in the valley, instead. It was pretty amusing because I found plenty of great climbs there and I could see everyone struggling at Moberly to get up. I felt like shouting, "hey, look at me! The climbs are better in the valley!!!"
Then I flew downwind for a bit, just checking out the area. I thought about flying to Donald Station, but I could see that it wasn't as close to the highway as the tempting field that I had my eyes on, so I flew there instead. Total distance: 20 k's.
I'm a little disappointed that I made such a silly mistake today, but there's a bigger part of me that doesn't really care. I've never flown North in Golden before so that was pretty cool in itself.
It overdeveloped today and it looks like it might do the same tomorrow, but earlier, so I'm not sure we'll be flying. But if we do, I'll be readier than ever baby!
I launched at about the middle of the pack and found some climbs right away. It seemed to be inverted or something around 2500 meters and the winds were pushing in from the south. I was in a climb dribbling around the antennas when the start window opened. I was a bit confused at first why my GPS showed me to go back to launch, but by the time I was half way across the valley, only then did I realize that I must have flown outside the launch cylinder, thereby not tagging it. With the south winds being the way they were and not being very high to begin with, I decided that I didn't care that much about the task, and decided to free fly instead.
I flew out to Moberly Peak, but I flew in front of it, in the valley, instead. It was pretty amusing because I found plenty of great climbs there and I could see everyone struggling at Moberly to get up. I felt like shouting, "hey, look at me! The climbs are better in the valley!!!"
Then I flew downwind for a bit, just checking out the area. I thought about flying to Donald Station, but I could see that it wasn't as close to the highway as the tempting field that I had my eyes on, so I flew there instead. Total distance: 20 k's.
I'm a little disappointed that I made such a silly mistake today, but there's a bigger part of me that doesn't really care. I've never flown North in Golden before so that was pretty cool in itself.
It overdeveloped today and it looks like it might do the same tomorrow, but earlier, so I'm not sure we'll be flying. But if we do, I'll be readier than ever baby!
posted by Veronica at 7:26 PM
1 Comments:
I made the same mistake at Yamaska in '06, and stupidly backtracked to re-tag instead of sticking with the lead gaggle. I sunk out while alone on course later on, then found out that I could have earned full distance points by continuing on, despite starting early. Maybe the rule has not changed. Regardless, unless you're vying for the top spots, it's better to have a great flight and worry less about points! Good luck anyhow, enjoy the good company and watch out for the gust fronts!
Guy
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